Friday, July 15, 2011

IPOs in 2011: An Evaluation

IPO activity in first half of 2011 has mainly been a dull affair with no big names hitting the bourses. Although the Tata Steel’s and PFC’s of the world came up with their huge FPOs but couldn’t manage any blockbuster success. The FPOs are not generally expected to spring up any surprises in terms of investor returns, so it is very much in line with the expectations.

On the IPO front, 22 IPOs managed to list on the Indian bourses since January 1, 2011 till date. The following is the list of IPOs, arranged on the basis of Listing Day Returns w.r.t respective issue prices.

Listing Day Returns:


Analysis:

a) The top 5 listing day returns were posted by IPOs which have been either rated as Grade-1 (Poor Fundamentals) or Grade-2 (Below Average Fundamentals) by the rating agencies.
b) 2 of them, Birla Pacific Medspa and Fineotex Chemicals, posted whopping returns of greater than 100% and emerged out as “Listing Day Stars”.
c) Only 2, Grade-3 or Grade-4 IPOs hit the bourses in this time-frame and posted listing day returns of 0.71% and – 11.07% respectively.
d) 10 out of 22 IPOs plunged on their listing day itself. Omkar Speciality had an embarrassing debut, suffered the most with a decline of greater than 50%.
e) 9 IPOs were assigned a grade of 2,5 IPOs were assigned a grade of 1 and 1 of them was assigned multiple grades of (1,2) by different rating agencies.
f) The average grade of these IPOs comes out to be 2 (Below Average Fundamentals), disseminating the quality of the IPOs in a broader perspective.
(For IPOs with multiple grading’s, highest rating taken into account for calculating the average grading).

Returns (as on 14th -Jul-2011):
 

Analysis: 

a) 4 IPOs have posted returns of more than 100%.3 out of these 4 are Grade-2 IPOs.
b) Fineotex Chemical continues it’s dream-run, posting returns of over 300% as on 14-07-2011.This IPO also had a dream debut on it’s listing day and posted returns of more than 100%.
c) For the rest, dismal performance continues here as well. Only 9 out of 22 IPOs managed to stay ahead of their issue prices.
d) Barring one (Lovable Lingerie) which is a Grade-3 IPO, all of these 9 are either Grade-1 or Grade-2 IPOs.
e) 13 out of 22 are quoting below their issue prices.8 of these 13 have plunged within range of 0 to 50% of their issue prices.
f) 5 IPOs are generating losses to the tune of 50 to 82 percent against their respective issue prices.
g) Acropetal (Grade-3) which had a decent listing has witnessed a bloodbath after that, has plunged the most, 80% below it’s issue price.

Caveat Emptor: IPOs tend to be glamorous but they can be deceiving at the same time. Investors generally park their money in hot ‘new offer’ for 15 days and expect a wonderful ROI upon listing. Though we can’t forget the Coal India and Jubiliant Foodworks of the world but we cannot ignore the other side of the story.

There are good companies available which have potential to grow as well as create wealth for investors. But for riding on the IPO bandwagon, one has to bear some things in mind.

1) Don’t go for Grey Market Premiums as they can be misleading; instead look at the company fundamentals.
2) Don’t go for “Word of Mouth”; instead do some research for the promoter track-record.
3) Have a look at the “Objects of the Issue” and “Future Prospects” and the synchronization between the two.
4) Don’t be allured to the lower tick sizes. A comparison of company’s EPS and P/E with it’s industry peers will give a good idea about fair price of an IPO.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

MF Returns: SIP vs. Non -SIP

I was in the process of collating the data for prospective candidates for MF investments for my family, last weekend. I thought of evaluating the performance of some select funds. These funds are primarily from diversified equity and balanced (hybrid) category of MFs. Most of these are part of the pack of Top 5 funds (on historical returns basis) in their respective categories.

I analyzed their performance on varied time-frames i.e 1 year, 3 years and 5 years returns both on SIP and Non-SIP Parameters. Non-SIP means the lump sum amount was invested in the beginning of the year itself.


 Time-Frame: Jun 10 -Jun 11


1 year returns: Analyzing the performance on yearly basis, the highest SIP returns amongst these surprisingly emerged from a balanced fund, Birla SL 95 Fund (4.05%) and Reliance RSF Equity yielding the lowest returns of the pack(-5.67%).
In the Non-SIP category, HDFC Equity generated highest returns of 16.89% and a lowest return in this pack was from HDFC Prudence (1.12%).However, Reliance RSF Equity again generated the lowest returns (7.56%) in the “diversified-equity” category.
The maximum variance of 14.44% in SIP vs. Non-SIP returns was from HDFC Equity and minimum of 0.46% from HDFC Prudence.


Time-Frame: Jun 08 -Jun 11


3 year returns: In last 3 years, the highest SIP returns amongst these emerged from HDFC Equity (29%). HDFC Prudence yielded topmost 27.47% in the above mentioned “Balanced” pack. DSPBR Balanced yielded 17.14%, the least in the pack.
In the Non-SIP Category, again a balanced fund, HDFC Prudence (18.61%) emerged out as a winner. The lowest gains (8.21%) posted by Reliance Vision in the pack.

                         Time-Frame: Jun 06 -Jun 11
                         * These funds are in operation for less than 5 years

5 year returns: Analyzing returns on 5 years basis, the highest SIP returns amongst these emerged from HDFC Prudence (19.41%). HDFC Top 200 posted highest (18.24%) in the equity category.
In Non-SIP category, Reliance RSF equity posted 20.72%, outperforming all the funds in SIP and Non-SIP Category.UTI Dividend Yield posted 20.31% and ended up a close 2nd.
The maximum deviation in SIP vs. Non-SIP returns in 5 year period is in Reliance RSF Equity (-4.05%) and minimum deviation is in HDFC Prudence (0.22%).

Broad Perspective: The following observations were extracted from this exercise (particular to this data set).

• In the 1st year, as expected, Non-SIP returns are more in comparison to SIP returns. This is in conformance to the view that short-term investments in SIP will not give your returns an edge over the Non-SIP investments.
• Analyzing the 3 year returns, the SIP returns outperformed Non-SIP returns in all cases. This is the most important aspect of SIP investment. SIP can provide good return to you only over long period that is over 3 years or more.
• Analyzing the 5 year returns, SIP returns on an average match the Non-SIP returns. This needs to be analyzed further with other data sets as it might be one of an off-case (specific to this data set).
• Last but not the least, the golden principle is, SIPs are supposed to work because of “rupee cost averaging,” which is based on the knowledge that markets will go up and down and up again.



Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Castrol India: Stupendous Performer

Industry: Oil & Gas/Lubricants

Profile:

Castrol India is a part of BP Group Worldwide and was incorporated in 1979. Castrol’s Indian Association traces back to 1910, when C C Wakefield & Company made an entry in market with automotive lubricants. It was first overseas branch of C C Wakefield & Company and it started as a trading unit.

Castrol India is the second largest player in the Indian Lubricant Industry with a market share of around 22% and is the market leader in the retail automotive lubricant segment.

Ownership:

Castrol India Limited is a Public Limited Company with 70.92% of the equity held by Castrol Limited UK (part of BP Group).The FII’s and Insurance Companies hold 7.27% and 5.04% respectively, as on 31st March 2011.



If we go by the trend of the last 4 SHPs posted, FIIs have increased exposure in the stock along with the Institutions. On the other hand DIIs, Non Institutions and Bodies Corporate have shed their stakes in the similar time frame.

Product Profile:

•   Industrial - Castrol metalworking fluids, cleaners, corrosion preventives and lubricants.
•  Oils - Cylinder oils-crosshead, crankcase oils-crosshead, truck piston engine oils,   hydraulic oils, gear oils, compressor oils, turbine oils, refrigeration oils, emulsifiable oils, multi-grades, heat transfer oils and greases.

 
Recent Corporate Actions:

* The 150% dividend comprises of 50% final dividend and 100% special dividend.

For the year ending December 2010, company has declared an equity dividend of 150% amounting to Rs. 15 vis-à-vis an equity dividend of 250.00% amounting to Rs. 25 per share for the year ending 2009.


Financials:

Quarterly

                                 Figures (In Crores), Fiscal Year End is Dec-31


QoQ Analysis: Analyzing Q1 numbers for this fiscal, the topline has shot up by 7.89% at 753.2 Crores (31-March-11) and bottom-line has increased 29% at 136.6 Crores (31-March-11).The operating profit of the company has also risen 15.86% to 181.9 Crores vis-à-vis 157 Crores in the previous quarter. The profitability has increased, despite the fact that total expenses has risen 5.58% on a Q-o-Q basis. PBITDM (%) and PATM (%) has shown a decent increase on a quarterly basis.

YoY Analysis: On comparing the Q1 numbers of this fiscal with Q1 of FY10-11, the topline has increased by 14.82% on a Y-o-Y basis. The bottom-line has increased impressively by 16.55%, despite the fact that total expenses has also risen by 20.02% in a similar time-frame. The rise in total expenses is primarily attributable to increase in raw material cost. Though the other income component has also contributed it’s bit in the increased profitability.

Yearly

 
                   Figures (In Crores), Fiscal Year End is Dec-31
 
Analyzing the yearly numbers, the sales figure has shot up 17.82% to Rs. 2742.90 Crores as on December-10. The operating profit has shown up a whopping increase of 25.29% to 733.2 Crores vs. 585.2 Crores in the previous FY end, considering the fact that total expenses has increased 15.31% to 2009.70 Crores.


CAGR basis: On a CAGR basis, the company has posted an awesome increase of 34% in the last 5 years. The sales have also increased 8% on a CAGR basis. The operating profit has also risen at a rate of 9.71% despite the fact that total expenses have also risen at the rate of 7% in the same tenure.

Returns:
The recent quarter has been the best quarter in the previous 4 quarters, posting returns of 19.12%. The last quarter of calendar year 2009-10 was the worst quarter, posting returns of -9.44%.
The stock has posted YTD returns of 14.64% till 30-Jun-11 and 18.83% returns as on 30-jun-11 on a year-on-year basis.


The stock has made a new 52 week high of 588.35 on BSE today itself and closed at 576.80, rebounding impressively from it’s 52 week low of 380 on BSE which was achieved off late on 28-Feb-11. The stock has posted humongous returns of 51.78% since then and that too in a very short span of time.


Castrol India Ltd. has posted impressive growth in topline and bottom-line over the years even in the tough times. The surge in raw material expenses continues but company has still posted a robust growth in Operating Profit.

• Besides this, company has strong brand power in the markets and enjoys a debt free status, high ROEs, distinctly superior delivery of products and improving cash flows. Considering these factors a higher PE multiple for the company vis-à-vis its peers is justified.

• Last but not the least, company enjoys a brand-loyalty and the promoters also have vast experience and expertise in this industry.

References:











Outlook: